The residency programme supported by Delfina Foundation and the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan (R.O.C) has selected two emerging artists, WU Chuan Lun and Musquiqui Chihying, as the residents after the open call. Delfina’s director, Aaron Cezar points out that the selection committee are so impressed with the applicants that the foundation decides to host two instead of one artist from Taiwan.
The Foundation’s decision to double number of residencies from Taiwan this year from the usual one to two is a testament to strength of the country’s emerging artists, says Dr. Chen, Pin-Chuan, Director of the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office in the UK. “With the help of a network of local organizations and professionals, Taiwanese talents will have the chance to promote their own work and interact with the British art community. The artists will benefit from long-term cultural exchanges and the opportunity to participate in local exhibitions in the future.”
WU Chuan Lun, who was born in Tainan, Taiwan in 1985, will take up a three-month residency at the Delfina Foundation this summer. Employing a diverse range of media, including CGI, photography, drawing, found objects and porcelain, Wu develops his work by starting with the process of collecting and gathering, then exploring the identity and meaning of the objects he finds. Unravelling their underlying history and social context, he creates conceptual, research-based installations. Focusing on the complicated relations between nature and civilization, ecology and politics, Wu's work has been shown at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Gwangju Museum of Art, Rockbund Art Museum and Künstlerhaus Bethanien. In addition to featuring in the 2020 Taiwan Biennial, he has also been nominated for the Taishin Arts Award.
Musquiqui Chihying will be taking up his residency from late September to early December. Chihying makes use of film, photography, installations and other media to explore the relationship between humanity’s living conditions and the environment, examining how art production intersects with daily life. He has also been invited to exhibit works at international exhibitions and galleries, including the Taipei and Shanghai Biennales and the Berlin Museum of Photography. In 2019, Chihying won the Loop Barcelona Video Art Production Award.
Founded in 2007, Delfina Foundation is an outstanding independent institute dedicated to facilitating artistic exchange and developing creative practice through residencies, partnerships and public programming. Led by Director Aaron Cezar, who is senior curator and also selected for the jury for the 2021 Turner Art Prize, the foundation has been built as a meeting point and incubator of creative talent, forming partnerships with leading institutions internationally.
Artwork by WU Chuan Lun
Artwork by Musquiqui Chihying
